Sydney to the Rescue
Sydney to the Rescue is the first episode of the first season and the pilot special of The Railways of Tytoonia. It first aired in workprint form on August 19th, 2017 and made its proper premiere on August 21st, 2017. The special was first developed in 2014 as a regular episode of the series, but as the series switched to a ten-minute episode format, the episode became a half-hour special that would take three years to complete. Plot Sydney is a young switch human living at the bustling Kahlville Junction, where she arranges trains for bigger characters that travel on the mainlines of Tytoonia's many railways. Isaac, the mountain local lion, impatiently demands for his coaches, claiming "silly little humans" like her aren't worth his time and that he'll never touch dirty freight cars. Sydney teases him back, saying this makes him "disposable" and unable to handle last-minute trains that will come up, but Isaac rebuttals by saying he's an "indispensable ending" and that he's as important to big characters "as that puny little human from the circus"....who then proceeds to cut in front of him as payback for his rude remarks. As Isaac departs, Pavlov, the express dog in charge of The Fairytale Arrow, is told that he won't be working on the trains until much later, due to the railway company manager, Mrs. C. Ella, receiving orders for a last-minute slow goods train at Celgreb City Central. As Pavlov worriedly heads to work, Sydney (feeling a bit hurt after Isaac's remarks) laments to a passing Cheeky Chocolate, who confidently reminds her that she got her own branch line after proving her worth as a shunter. She encourages her by reminding her of her hard working attitude and that she'll have a larger job soon enough. A few hours later at the bustling Celgreb Central, Chee Zee is found by Isaac sitting at the platform; he is waiting for his driver to return with a schedule of his work. The two then bicker with each other, which is interrupted by the Freight Manager of the station requesting Isaac to leave his coaches, report to the goods yard, and get to Celgreb Bay Harbour by 12:30pm to collect a load of containers. Isaac is flabbergasted as Chee Zee departs from the station, and causes problems for Toasty Pop and Vivian Van Goat; Toasty Pop's passengers are on-board Isaac's coaches, and are rudely dropped off in the middle of the line as Vivian hurries in with her own express. As the two leave, Pavlov arrives to find Bad Bleacher pulling in with a delivery of emergency supplies. It's here where we learn Pavlov isn't worried because he has to pull coaches; it's because his express run later will take him to the United States, and that makes him anxious about being late. Bad Bleacher reassures him that things will go fine, and that Macy Macaron and Tinned Slimeapple have taken over his usual express runs for the time being. After this, the characters are sent on their way as Bad Bleacher's cargo has been unloaded and the station staff are quickly arranging to have Pavlov's goods train brought in, due to Cheeky Chocolate's run to Grofflen Harbour arriving soon Back at Kahlville, Bad Bleacher is surprised to find a depressed Sydney sadly going about her work. He opens up to her about being stuck in the junction yards, while everyone else gets to travel. Bad Bleacher then proceeds to show the advantages of being a smaller character working in the yards; he can deliver trains safely without the risk of hitting the points, and plenty of smaller characters like Maliah, Lizzy, and Beethoven have big jobs of their own thanks to their hard work. However, their talk is interrupted by an alarm; Mystabella and Manager race down the line as a heavy milk train has broken free from Quackers, and is racing into the junction at a dangerous and destructive speed! With Bad Bleacher stuck in the sidings and no one else to help, Sydney bravely hurries in to stop the milk wagons. With great force and great effort, she manages to grind them to a halt, just as Quackers hurries back to the junction to recover the runaway freight cars. The rescue manages to boost Sydney's confidence once more. At the docks, Isaac and Chee Zee impatiently wait for Terex to unload their containers so they can get going. The two bicker once again, with Isaac boasting about his passenger services, before getting shut down by Pupkin Cake and Ariel, who go to collect the last wagons for their trains. Fed up with all that he's had to put up with, Isaac hurries off with only one car in tow, while Chee Zee rushes behind with three loaded wagons. Ariel and Pupkin Cake give chase as the two passenger characters cause chaos in their fued-fueled race; they nearly ram into Misty at the harbour intersection and nearly smash into Lizzy and her small goods train in the outskirts of the docks. During this, Pavlov is told to head for a loop, as they've neglected some flatbeds for Gridinia Bay. Ariel and Pupkin Cake give up chasing them in Great Wolf Forest, where Ariel (following Pupkin Cake's comment of "They're used to racin'....I'm not sure if rule-breaking's typical") realizes the two are headed for a collision. She orders him to head back to the harbour to send a warning before its too late. Pavlov is hurrying down the line to Great Wolf Junction at a fairly quick speed due to the delays that have been caused by the train, when he notices Chee Zee and Isaac are about to ram into each other. Finally snapping out of their racing fever, the two brake hard, but are unable to prevent a crash; Chee Zee is sent boiler first into the ditch, with Isaac falling on top of him, while Pavlov, braking hard to avoid a further crash, hits the points and rams straight into a hill near the signal box. Meanwhile, the alarm has gone off at the Tytoonian Fire and Rescue Centre, and Slop Corn sends off Skyanna and Bad Bleacher (who has just finished his supply run) to the rescue, who set to work trying to get things back in order. However, with the accident decommissioning Pavlov until further notice, the Fairytale Arrow's "Border Special" is left without an character. With all the big characters scheduled with work, Beethoven and Sydney are put in charge of the train, with Macy Macaron and Vivian meeting them at Celgreb Central. Though they encounter tough hills along their travels, they manage to make it to the station in record time, as Macy Macaron and Vivian collect their coaches for the US run. A few days later, a ceremony is held by Sir Allen Featherington at the Junction to award Beethoven and Sydney for their contributions and work from the eventful day: Beethoven receives a passenger run on the Tytoonian Seaside Railway, and Sydney receives a rake of mail cars. Sydney now confidently works at the junction, while handling mail runs to and from Celgreb City, taking pride of finally having her own job. Characters (in order of appearance) *Macy Macaron *Terex *Sierra Clark (cameo) *Katy Caboose (cameo) *Lenny the Railway Twin (cameo) *Wendy (cameo) *T.Jerry (cameo) *Pupkin Cake *Ten Cents (cameo) *Big Tim (cameo) *Scarletta Gateau (cameo) *Sparkles (cameo) *Sydney *Peppa-Mint (cameo) *Isaac the Lion *Strawberry Kiss (cameo) *Beethoven the Giraffe (doesn’t speak) *Mary (cameo) *Jackalyn *Strong Bad *Pavlov the Dog *Cheeky Chocolate *Toasty Pop *Rini The Railway Twin (cameo) *Bubs (cameo) *Chee Zee *Suzie Sundae (cameo) *Skyanna (cameo) *Vivian Van Goat *Bad Bleacher *Tinned Slimeapple (mentioned) *Scoop (cameo) *Muck (cameo) *Lofty (cameo) *Huey (cameo) *Trevor (cameo) *Magic School Bus (cameo) *Yaemon (cameo) *Apple Blossom (cameo) *Electra (cameo) *Nelson (cameo) *Mystabella (cameo) *The Greendale Rocket (doesn’t speak) Voice Cast *Blake Hawkins as Sydney and Lizzy the Tiger *Joel Hunter as Cheeky Chocolate, Pupkin Cake and Misty the Blue Mouse *Alice Stone as Ariel *Lachie Vincent as Strong Bad and Isaac the Lion *Michelle Hurtado as Mrs. C. Ella *Lucas Dollar as Macy Macaron *Kyle Hebert as Bad Bleacher *Dean T. Moody as Pavlov the Dog *Alexander Paris as Chee Zee *RetroPokeFan as The Workmen and Additional Voices *Cinnamonpig as The Kahlville Station Announcer *Stephanie Panisello as Maliah *Matt Michaud as Jackalyn *Milan Prsa as Additonal Voices and The Narrator Trivia *The special was, for a time, intended to be released direct-to-home-video; however, constantly changing release dates pushed the special to make a YouTube debut instead. *The special took three years to complete; the script was written between July and September 2015, with the July-written portions being done whilst on a Croatian holiday. The animation itself was produced in-and-out during Tyler's Grade 11 and 12 years of high school, with the majority of the work being completed in July and August 2017. *The decision to bring on Kyle Hebert as Bad Bleacher was one made towards the final stages of animation on the special; the original actor had been fired, and Tyler was unable to find a replacement that would fit. Seeing the opportunity for a guest spot on the special, he contacted Kyle, who agreed to record for the special after a deal was made. *Cheeky Chocolate tells Sydney how she started off as a shunter but after proving she was really useful she got her own branch line and coaches. This is a reference to his first few episodes of season 1 of Shopkins, most notably Cheeky Chocolate and the Brakedown Train. *The "Nothing Can Stop Us Now" musical sequence was done during the final stages of production; the scene originally contained narration, but it was decided that a cover of the song would be better suited. Only the "I think I can, I THINK I can" line was retained. There was also another Sydney line was cut from the scene: "Make way for the Little Human Express!", originally written in for the "Run-Over" shot of the sequence. *RetroPokeFan originally was supposed to have voiced Vivian Van Goat but due to time constraints Milan Prsa voiced her instead. *This is Beethoven the Giraffe's only appearance with a face; following Cheeky Chocolate the Building Shopkin, he was reverted to his original faceless look. *Many changes occurred during the scriptwriting phase: **A variety of scrapped shots for the intro, including: ***Macy Macaron stopping at Gridinia Bay Junction, next to Vivian Van Goat; we would then follow Neighton as he hurries off to work, passing Madeline Pluto, with Celgreb City in the distance serving as the final credit shot. ***An alternate version of this scene with Cliffstone Junction replacing Gridinia Bay Junction. ***Macy Macaron passing through a prototype Bluthsburg Freight Yard (as seen in the early teaser trailer/early intro). This was scrapped due to the uploader of the set raising concerns. **Luke the Engine Driver and Beethoven the Giraffe having speaking roles, which were reduced to silent appearances in the special. **Sydney would have had her driver from Soeren Hermansen's earlier project, Heidi, but was scrapped as animation went underway. **Isaac would have had a driver **A scene following the crash at Great Wolf Junction in which the signalman on duty raises the alarm to the Tytoonian Fire and Rescue Centre. A later version (cut due to the production schedule) would have humorously had Mr. Lazy as the signalman. This sequence has been reproduced for the upcoming The Railways of Tytoonia Presents: Sydney to the Rescue DVD. **Bad Bleacher would have collected his breakdown train from a mountain station, rather than Gridinia Bay Junction. Category:Episodes